Don’t tell me that racism doesnt still exist…

Don’t tell me that racism still doesn’t exist when my mom is having problems with a redneck doctor named Evan Jones.

Don’t tell me that racism still doesn’t exist when the only reason this redneck doctor doesn’t want to give her a nurse is because he is racist, even though you should know that being middle eastern or even Muslim, it’s not your race.

Don’t tell me that racism still doesn’t exist when he makes my mom do his work and my mom’s not even complaining.

Don’t tell me he’s sexist either because he treats his wife with the utmost respect and she’s a housewife too.

Don’t tell me that racism still doesn’t exist when he asked my mom why is our president African American, and he’s educated too.

It’s really sad when an educated doctor who makes around $90,000 per year still thinks that way. It angers me and it makes me think there’s no hope for people. It angers me because why would people teach that in the first place. Why is it always an us vs. them mentality? Why must we always divide ourselves and then categorize ourselves into groups and the based on that we set stereotypes to these people and some of them are negative.

The best example is that Muslims are terrorist. The media is an excellent source in perpetuating these stereotypes.

I see the “hate” they have in their eyes, the indifference they have towards us. Yes, I am a foreigner. Yes, I do wear the scarf. But it doesn’t mean I am stupid or don’t know English or even a terrorist.

Why are the stereotypes one dimensional? I mean if you dissect any human being, you won’t find only the heart or the brain or the lungs or the liver. You will find that the human being is very complex, much more complex than even one organ system. So why are the stereotypes one dimensional?

This is how destructive racism is.

My mom quit because they weren’t treating her fairly.

White Trophy

I am sorry, but I feel like I have to address this.

This is to all the African American girls who hate it when an African American guy dates or marries white or a Caucasian woman.

I am sorry that you might feel betrayed by your own race.
I am sorry if you think he has a “white trophy” on his arm.

But you have to know that the African American guy who dates a white girl, there’s nothing wrong with him. The very fact that he is dating a white woman proves that he is human, not that he betrayed your race.

If you actually read your history, you would know that during slavery, they had the one drop rule. It was: a law that if a slave owner raped or had sex with an African American woman, the children she had were still slaves, which means they were still African American, even though they were half white.

I would not be surprised if they still use it today.

So in reality, you should be happy when he marries white because he is bringing more people into your population. He didn’t betray your race. He’s actually adding more people to it.

And don’t you dare think he has a “white trophy” on his arm.

Besides you don’t know her and you have no right to judge her. Even if you did know her, you still have no right to judge her either.

She could be a mean person, but she could also be a really nice, sweet person, but since you didn’t take the time to get to know that, you wouldn’t know that. And I will be feel bad for you.

It’s sad, and I have said this many many many times before, when you judge a person based on the color of their skin or based on if they are really pretty or not, you miss a lot by doing that. I mean a lot.

So again I say please don’t judge me or my friends or anyone else based on what they look like because you’d be very surprised on what you can find.

Does Race Matter?

So my philosophy of race professor posts up a question on their blog.

Does race matter?

He really liked my response. 🙂

Race – (biology) a taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species.

First of all, I don’t believe race is biological. It is based on biological features that are perceived to be different. It is perceived to be different.

If you take off the skin of all the people in the world, you will find out that one person is no different from another person. If you do make it biological, it’s like saying that the African American is a totally different species from the Caucasian, which is not the case.

I had a person comment on my blog last year about why I support interracial dating, saying that the African American and the Caucasian is like a penguin and a polar bear. It’s not true and I did correct him. But it does make me angry.

Taxonomy – a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure or origin.

Second, implying that is a taxonomy, which might be implying that the writer holds Hardimon’s view of race, says that there is a difference between human being, and I totally agree based on the fact that we are all individually different and no one is as unique as I am. But to say that all people who have that shade of skin color think the same or do the same thing is wrong because everybody is different so everybody doesn’t think the same way.

Geographical Isolation is a huge consequence, in my opinion, because it leads to unequal housing, unequal schools, unequal job opportunities, higher health risks, higher abortion rates.

I hold the Haslanger’s view of race, so with that said, I believe that race was invented to divide up human beings based on perceived biological differences and for one “race” to rule another “race”, based on if they are the majority group or minority group, here in the United States.

Race does matter. In politics and sociology, race does matter. Race is all about politics and sociology. I believe that race is used to separate people who are perceived to be different. When stereotypes are added to the equation and the stereotypes are considered bad, it becomes an “us versus them” mentality. We are not them. We don’t have yellow, blue, green, white, or black skin. We are not robbers or thieves or criminals. We are not sexual people. We don’t have babies out of wedlock. We are not terrorists. We don’t oppress our people. We are not them. We separate ourselves from them.

It leads to the minority population in the inner city and the majority population in the suburbs. It leads to the inner city schools and housing are in bad shape, and the suburb schools and housing are in good shape. It leads to the opportunities for the inner city students to go to higher education are worse than the students in the suburbs.

It also leads to Caucasian CEOs and African American workers. It leads to Caucasian slave owners and African American slaves. It leads to Caucasian sharecropper owners and African American and poor Caucasian sharecropper.

In our history, for example, during Jim Crow when it ruled the South, separation didn’t really matter as much as subordination. Subordination is defined as subject to submissive to authority or control of another.

You can still see it today.

I believe that race shouldn’t matter.

It shouldn’t matter if you are blue, green, purple, white, black, brown. It shouldn’t matter if you have nappy hair. It shouldn’t matter if you have a big nose or a small nose.

Just because you have a different texture hair or different eyes shouldn’t mean that you are better or worse than anyone else.

Maybe you are better off because our society gives privilege to the majority group. In the United States, it’s called “white privilege.” Those people who are racialized as “white” have a privilege as Peggy McIntosh in a small article called White Privilege: Unpacking the Knapsack said, “an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks.”

I sometimes ask myself “Why should I be privileged because I have lighter skin than some people? Why should I have special provisions, maps, passport, codebooks, visas, clothes tools and blank check? What about the other people who don’t have this privilege? Aren’t they human too? Don’t they breathe, eat, study, and play as I do? Why don’t they live in the same houses and go to the same schools?”

Our society gives a lot of emphasis on how you look, from the clothes you wear to how skinny you are, to how tall you are, to many, many things. I believe it’s such a superficial way of looking at things. There’s so much more to a person than they way they look and the way they dress.

This is just my opinion and nobody else has to agree with it.  🙂

Tolerance is good for everyone: an insightful look at racism

“Tolerance is good for everyone: an insightful look at racism
by Josh Chicarelli

WARNING: The following blog contains racial slurs but they’re not used in a racist manner. So don’t take them out of context. They’re used to educate and give some insight into my background for those that don’t know.

You know, it never occurred to me until last night when I was watching comedienne Lisa Lampanelli on Comedy Central. I’ve never touched upon this topic before and some of the stuff I say about myself in here will be the first time that most of yous ever heard it. If you’re familiar with the comedy of Lisa Lampanelli or Carlos Mencia, you’d know that they do a lot of race related material. For instance, Lisa takes every stereotype about every race, sex, and creed and pokes fun at it. Carlos takes these same stereotypes and does the same thing but he puts it in perspective usually. I remember him saying once on his No Strings Attached special that “If you got a joke about a particular group of people, then you have no right to tell that joke unless you can tell that joke to the people that it pokes fun of.” He said this when he was telling a story about how the handicapped called him out on not doing handicap jokes in front of them because he didn’t wanna offend them but he learned first hand that it’s ok to do those jokes for the audiences that it pokes fun of because they have a sense of humor too.

Now with that said, no there will be no race related jokes from me here. I don’t really know if I could ever have the courage that Lisa or Carlos has. Something you all probably don’t know is that I, myself, have been a victim of racism. I can laugh at race related jokes and stuff like many other people when they’re not meant to be mean. Just laughing at the stereotypes that stupid people have pigeonholed on people. But when you attempt a joke that’s cold-hearted and absolutely racist, then there’s where I draw the line.

Imagine being 4-5 years old in kindergarten. Your only friend is a little black girl named Latoya and your so-called father starts calling you a nigger lover and saying shit about, “Do you want people to see you with a nigger? Do you want to be called a nigger lover by the church and everyone else?” Imagine having to go through that at 4 and 5 years old. …..It doesn’t end there. I’ve been dealing with racism my entire life and being a mix of Native American and Italian doesn’t help shit much. My skin is a little bit darker than everyone else’s. When we had those culture days in elementary school, imagine having a teacher, of all people, think you’re making a racist statement when you wear a Native American headdress to class to show off your culture and she doesn’t realize that you are Native American. As for me, I took offense to her doing that because I started feeling discriminated against.

…It still doesn’t end there. Fast forward to a few years ago. I was at my uncle’s house and he made pasta but I had food here that I wanted to eat and I hate pasta. My cousin Andrew asked me why I hated it and before I could get anything out my so-called uncle said this and I quote, “It’s that fuckin’ Indian in him!” I don’t know about you guys that’s reading this, but when he said that to me, I seriously wanted to punch him in the fuckin’ mouth for that. That shit pissed me the fuck off like you wouldn’t believe! Right after that, I just got up, left and walked home from Millersville by Pleasant Valley to Colfax. ….Not done yet people! Many of you know about my love of Asian cinema, food and culture. Well those that know me also know that my eyes don’t open as wide as everyone else’s either and that’s not because I’m Asian cause I’m not. It’s just I don’t have wide eyes. Well by my own father, yet again, I’ve been called chink-eyed, chinky, rice man, and pigeonholed with every Asian stereotype and slur you can imagine.

Because of all of that, I’ve grown to actually downright, not dislike or loathe my dad’s side of the family, but I’ve more or less grown to just hate them with a passion. That’s the Italian side of the family and thankfully I take more after my mom’s side which is the Native American side. They’re more tolerant of everyone and everything probably due to what the Europeans did when they first came here all those years ago and slaughtered our ancestors. Like a couple of years ago, I had a black girlfriend and that side knew about it but I had to keep it a secret from his side of the family to avert more racism.

And you know, there’s something I learned from the few black friends I have. They hate being called African-Americans and I asked them about that once and they told me that it was because they find that political correctness nonsense to be insulting to them. They just wanna be treated like everyone else. They want people to talk to them normally and not try to sound like they’re smarter than them or anyone else because they viewed the political correct terms as more racist than calling them black. I thought that was interesting, but you know, they were right. They are fucking right! If I was black, I’d probably be thinking the same thing.

There’s one thing though, I can’t apply that same way of thinking to being Native American because we actually do prefer to be called Native Americans rather than Indian. It mostly has to do with the fact that Indians are people from India, not people from this country originally. I can make fun of the Native American stereotypes because those don’t bother me that much and they are kinda funny. Like when someone pisses me off and they’re like, “Uh oh, don’t scalp me!” I seriously laugh at that because we don’t scalp people and when they’ve said it to me. Another stereotype I find hilarious, about Italians, is that we all smell like fish and garlic. Where that one comes from, I have no clue, cause I hate seafood and garlic, let alone all Italian food except pizza and I’m half Italian! So it’s funny to me when someone makes that joke. They aren’t saying them in a harsh, “I fucking mean it!”, kind of manner. They were joking, so yeah, I can take the joke, but blatant, flat out racism…. You better hope I don’t find you.

So hopefully you all learned something valuable about me today and learned something about racism too. That’s the reason why I wrote this blog is to educate a little bit and tell people about my experiences in doing so. So hopefully I made a difference to someone or some people out there with this insightful outlook. Take care everyone!”

This is from my friend’s blog.

When I asked him about it, he said this is all true.

“yeah, so when I say I know what it’s like to be discriminated against, I mean I really know how those people feel cause I went through it.”

It’s sad, pathetic, and disgusting to have even your father and your uncle say that to you.

Clarksburg women charged for hate crime

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Clarksburg police say a white woman wearing a sheet with “KKK” written on it came out of an apartment building and attacked a 15-year-old black girl on Sunday. The woman is expected to be charged with a hate crime, said Clarksburg Police Chief Marshall Goff. Names were not yet being released, he said.

“She came out of the building and was yelling obscenities and racial stuff at the juvenile,” Goff said. “Charges are pending; she could be served as early as tomorrow.”

Goff said police haven’t ruled out the possibility that the woman has mental problems.

The woman slapped the girl and kicked her in the stomach, he said.

The incident happened outside an apartment building on West Pike Street in downtown Clarksburg, he said.

“The girl was visiting a friend with her mother at the apartment building,” Goff said. “It is a very unusual occurrence in this area. It’s something we are not going to tolerate and will prosecute to the full extent of the law.”

Clarksburg Woman Arrested After Racial Incident
Posted Tuesday, October 7, 2008 ; 06:06 PM

Rebecca Lowe is facing a felony charge. CLARKSBURG — The police have arrested a Clarksburg woman for allegedly yelling racial slurs at a fourteen-year-old black girl. Officers say the girl was walking past an apartment building on West Pike Street, when Rebecca Lowe, 32, came outside wearing a white sheet over her head. The sheet had the initials K-K-K written on it in black marker. They say Lowe slapped and kicked the girl, while yelling the slurs. Police have charged her with prohibiting the girl’s civil rights. It is a felony charge. Lowe was arraigned Tuesday morning and released on $20,000 bond.

Why the Americans cant get over race

(CNN) — In 1835, Alexis DeTocqueville, in his seminal work, “Democracy in America,” prophesied that the abolition of slavery would not eliminate racial prejudice, which he declared was “immovable.”

Sen. Barack Obama, in running for the presidency of the United States, is challenging DeTocqueville’s bleak assessment of the human heart. It remains unclear whether the Illinois senator is on a hopeless mission, or whether the American people will decide to make history by breaking with it.

Any discussion of race or racism inevitably stirs uncomfortable reactions. America is, indeed, a nation of immigrants. Most of our ancestors came here in search of a better life. Africans, however, arrived here in chains to make a better life for others. Yet to date, we have been unable to discuss the horrors of the enslavement, lynchings, segregation and degradation of African-Americans without prompting resentment or indifference.

“That’s all in the past,” is a common retort. “We had nothing to do with it. It’s history. Get over it.” The problem, however, as the results in a number of the primary states reveal, is that racial prejudice is not history, and neither whites nor blacks are over it.

While Obama has moved the subject of prejudice out from the shadows, more than his exotic name, origin and religious affiliation are at issue. When Colin Powell, one of America’s most accomplished military leaders and diplomats, contemplated running for the presidency in 2000, his family feared for his safety. Also, during that same year, when Sen. John McCain ran for our highest office, he was the victim of a vile, racist smear in South Carolina.

There are deep grievances held by black Americans over their past and present treatment by the white majority and equally profound resentments held by many whites over what they see as preferential treatment for the black community. Unfortunately, a discussion of the racial divide in our country is too often reduced to sound bites or shouting matches. Moreover, the preachings and exhortations of several prominent religious leaders, rather than nurturing and appealing to our spiritual needs, have instead served to inflame passions and reinforce old falsehoods and antagonisms.

We are convinced that what is needed in America is a serious, open, civil dialogue on racial, ethnic and religious prejudice. To this end, in July, we are convening a conference in Washington on race and reconciliation with political, spiritual and business leaders. Our goal: to further a national conversation about the need for truth, tolerance and reconciliation.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/29/cohens.race.politics/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

i dont think it would help much to jut talk about it here! we need to do something more than that!

White privilege = white supremacy?

What does it mean to be White?
the white privilge… is that the same as white supremacy?
where the white man is superior to all the other races…
what if theres no such thing as race… would we think the same way?
would we still teach our children to hate people that are not like them?
would we still use the concept of identifying against?
would our children ask why people are different? would they still use the identifying against?
or would they be tolerant, more than us, about race?

the white privilge

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
do u really wanna do that? having everybody think the same way? and no varitey of thinking?
you could be missing about a lot by doing that, because there could be an african american or an asian with better, more inventive ideas.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
i would disagree with that because if a white man hangs out with an afican american man, hypothetically, the white man would also be trained to mistrust the african american man. 

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
wealth and status, the stereotype that the african american community is poor and white american community is rich

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
unless you were born a bitch! then they might think of you as the opposite

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
the saddest thing too…

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person’s voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
ouch!

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
not the best idea in the world…

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children’s teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others’ attitudes toward their race.
unless your child is a total bitch and gets out of his/her seat every once in a while. 

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the “person in charge”, I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn’t a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and “normal” in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

http://mylifeasanalien.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/what-does-it-mean-to-be-white-or-act-white/

Come on people! Think for yourself for once! 2

i edited my paper so i hope you like it and understand it!

Stereotypes are generalizations, or assumptions, sometimes based on the defense mechanism projection, that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image about what people in that group are like. The images could be positive or negative. However, the image is often wrong and doesn’t take one person into account. It can lead to prejudice and might even lead to discrimination. There are stereotypes about every culture and every religion in the world, the Indians, the Asians, the English, the French.

Where are most of our stereotypes coming from? If you think about it for a sec, you will realize that almost everyone in the US has a television. and so almost everyone watches it.Theres so much, these days, about how muslims are terrorists and about how muslims are commanded to kill the “infidel”, so I believe we get most of our stereotypes from the media. The media  is trying to brainwash people into thinking that there are only categories of people. We don’t have to go ahead and meet them because we think we know what they will be like when we really have no idea what they are like, and, God forbid, it’s a sin to walk up to a person and meet them, right?

Why is stereotyping so easy to promote? I have two reasons. There could be more, though. The media definitely takes advantage of the fact that people are ignorant. They have no prior knowledge of the subject. They won’t know if it’s right or wrong. Some people are like sheep and believe what the media tells them, and don’t think for themselves. So the people in the media say, “Lets give them the knowledge, and they will believe anything we say because they won’t know if it’s right or wrong.” This is obviously way they promote the stereotypes of islam.

And another reasons is fear. The media promotes these stereotypes by repetition, so over and over we see those stereotypes. That’s how people learn these stereotypes. People have lived with these stereotypes for quite sometime now, and they start to get afraid because they start believing those stereotypes, and when people are afraid of something, they tend to keep away from it. My impression is that racist people are afraid that african americans will rob them because they show that a lot in the media. People are afraid to admit that they are gays because they are afraid to be hated on by their family and friends and society, so they hate on them back. People are afraid to admit that they are ocd or schizophernic because of the stigma that the mentally ill have because of the media. They show a lot of mentally ill people as wild and crazy and they need to be institionalized because they are crazy. People are afraid to be identified as muslim because of the stigma that the muslims have.

And these stereotypes promote prejudices, not that the media wants the people to be prejudice against the muslims. “According to the social identity perceptive, self esteem depends on both personal and social identity. Social identity refers to the pride derive from membership in various groups. The theory purposes that self esteem can be undermined by either threat to personal identity or social identity. Threats to both personal and social identity may motivate efforts to restore self esteem, but threats to social identity are more likely to provoke responses that promotes prejudices and discrimination. When social identity is threatened, individuals may react in two ways to bolster it. one common response is to show ingroup favoritism, for example, tapping an ingroup member for a job opening, or rating the performance of an ingroup member higher than that of an outgroup member. A second common reaction is to engage in outgroup derogation, in other words, to “trash” outgroup that are perceived as threatening. Outgroup derogation is more likely when people identify especially strongly with the threatened ingroup. When people degorate an outgroup, they tend to feel superior as a result, and this feeling helps to affirm self worth. These unfortunate reactions are not inevitable, but threats to social identity represent yet another dynamic process that can foster prejudice.”

And its much easier for people to use outgroup derogating, because its easier to trash talk people that are not from your “kind” because it’s more accessible. Not many people could do ingroup favoritism because there’s not a lot of opportunities to do it. And people do tend to feel superior and so that helps with their self-esteem because everyone want to feel good and superior to another person.

The most common stereotyped people today is the Muslim people. So people hate on Islam because of all the stereotypes out there, and because it makes them feel superior since they are not “savages,” like all the muslims are. And they are much more “civilized” than the Muslims are. Its much easier to trash talk Islam then to find out the truth and then spread it around.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. If one did research about Islam, one will find that out.  If one does research about Islam and listens to what the media, like television, says about Islam, they will find two completely different images. One very common image that the media portrays the Muslims as terrorists. We carry bombs and we do all the killings. From these images on televison, people create  an image in their heads about the religion of Islam and then project it to all the Muslim people and mainly on the religion of Islam. If one think about it, they will see how unfair it is for a Muslim, actually for anyone, living in Western society may feel about these very unfair stereotypes that the media is projecting on Islam and the Muslim people as a whole.

Now people think that Muslims are terrorist and they think that Muslims are bad people. The holy book is the Qur’an and they follow what the Qur’an says, so the Qur’an must preach violence. They see the women wearing the hijab and “restricting” their freedom to show off their bodies. And they don’t see any women going to drunken parties or going to bars and having boyfriends and having fun and running around in the streets. So people think and assume that the women are oppressed and they should be “freed” from that oppression. They look at images on the television and see how “poor” the Arab world is and think there’s no schools and everyone is running in the streets, and there’s no education and think that the only reason that there’s no education is that they are so “poor.” And so they make the conclusion that no one is learning anything, especially women. They think that Islam doesn’t believe in Jesus, peace on him, since Islam doesn’t believe that he is the son of God or anything.

And to make their stereotypes and prejduices possible, they use the concept of identifying against. One can see that everyone has an identity. Some people form their identity by identitying against. To identify against, first we define the “other” and then we define themselves as “not the other.” The media gives these stereotypes and people now believe that the Muslims ar terrorists and carry bombs and people are not terrorist and people don’t carry bombs. So people who don’t think for themselves think that the Muslims are “savages” and would kill anyone in sight. That makes them not want to convert to such a peaceful religion such as Islam and people don’t want to be identified as Muslim because it’s associated with all these bad images in the media and the overused word of terrorism.

 

            These are some common stereotypes the Islam as a religion has.

All Muslim women are oppressed.
           

To tell you the truth, Muslim women are not oppressed.

If Muslim women are so oppressed, then why dont they just convert to another religion?

If they are so unhappy with the rules that God put on them, then when why don’t they just convert to Christianity or Judaism? They would be a lot happier, huh?
            Yes, Muslims don’t drink at bars and women wear the scarf, but Muslims believe that God put those rules for a reason. Muslims believe that God doesn’t want us to be tempted to do bad stuff. If you take away the temptation, you’re not tempted. And you must be asking yourself, “Why does He put the temptation there in the first place?” He wants to see if people like us will listen to Him.

Muslims are freed from having to make bad decision that will sometimes change their lives, like drinking. When people drink, they very often lose control of themselves and they could do stuff that are uncalled for, and on top of that, alcohol gives you a lot of problems in the future. One does get addicted to alcohol, so one spends a lot of money on alcohol. If one drinks too much, one could pass out, and one could even die from drinking too much alcohol, which would be exactly like suicide and if you killed yourself, you would be going to the most bottom part of hell, which is what the Muslims believe. If one drinks and drives, one could get into an accident. In the long run, alcohol causes so many health problems, one of them being liver damage. One’s liver is one of the most important organ in the body.

We pray five times a day, so that we could think of God all the time. Many Christians only go to church on Sunday and think of God only then. Muslims fast in the month of Ramadan from even before sunrise to sunset; one of the reasons is learn self control and that patience is a virtue. Another reason is to feel what the poor people have and to think of food as a gift instead of a necessity, like people always do.  Muslim give alms, so that we don’t think we are the richest people in the world. Being selfish and greedy is common around people.

Muslims believe that God put rules. If you follow them, you will be saved, in this life and in the one after.

 

True feminists should work to free the Muslim women.

 

From what? There’s nothing to be freed from. We are not oppressed, so there’s not we need to be freed from. Again, if Muslim women are so oppressed, then why don’t they convert to another religion? They are actually a lot happier than any other religion, because again, the temptation is taken away. They call Islam a backwards, tradition religion, but what is wrong with being traditional?

Muslim women are forced to cover their heads.

 

Wearing the hijab is in the Qur’an, but Muslims are not forced to do it. Our dads don’t have a gun at our heads saying that if we don’t do it, he will shoot. Not all the Muslim wear the hijab. The hijab takes commitment. One can not wear it one day and take it off the next.

 The hijab is a beautiful thing. One who wears it doesn’t have to worry about how their hair looks in the morning. But one who wear it should cover everything except their hand and face, unless their face is beautiful, then they also have to cover it. If you are beautiful, it’s better to hide it than show it off. When women are all out there showing everything, they are usually called sluts and whores and hoes. One who wears it gets a lot more respect than one who flaunts their stuff. Wearing the hijab doesn’t distract the men from their work. Men actually get their work done instead of paying attention or thinking about the women next to him. Men treat women who wear the hijab like a person, instead of being distracted by her beauty. Wearing the hijab is also an attitude and a behavior rather than only just a fashion statement.

The concept here is temptation, too. Men are tempted to pursue a woman by her beauty. Men are usually looking for a short term relationship after they pursue the woman. So if that is taken away, then they are not tempted to persue the women in front of them.

 

Muslim women are generally not allowed to be educated.

 

That’s the silliest stereotype there is. It’s very hard for a Muslim to fathom how did that become a stereotype. Why would God not want Muslims women to be educated?  Education for Muslim women is no sin. Women have the same rights to be educated as men do. Muslim women do too. Men go to college and even pursue their own careers. Muslim women do too. Edcuation in the Arab world is a actually a duty. It’s a duty to educate men and women alike! Is that really hard to believe? In fact, my mom came all the way to the United States just for our education. Besides without education, where would Muslim women be?

 

Most Muslims support terrorism.
 

If you took a survey to give to all Muslims in the world and ask them this question, you will find that about 98% don’t support it. Muslims DON’T support terrorism. I don’t support terrorism. Heck! I didn’t even know the word existed before September 11, 2001. I didn’t even know what the word hijack mean. Muslim actually hate the word terrorism. It’s so overused. Thats is just the propaganda that is on the televsion trying to brainwash you folks to thinking that, to give the United States justification to go into Iraq. The United States is not at war with the religion, even though some people think it is. It is at war with one country, Iraq. They have something that the United States wants, which is a small three letter word, but it makes a big difference, oil. So the United States gets jealous because it doesn’t have any and makes up all these stories about the Muslim people. And people use to defense mechanism of projection. The government “hates” the Muslim people and so the United States “hates” the Muslim people. So in return, they think the Muslim people “hate” them, when it is completely the opposite.

Islam preaches voilence and muslim are commanded by God to “kill all the infidels.”

 

If Islam did preach violence, then why are Muslims on the news right now? Why werent Muslims on the news before September 11, 2001? If it did preach violence, we would have been on the news since television news started. And beside the literal translation ofthe word Islam is “peace and submission to God.” It preaches voilence and yet its the fastest growing religion in the world? Come on, people, think! I didnt even know what was an infidel until like very recently. Five to eight million muslims live here in the united states today. So if islam really taught violence, then ask yourself, “WHERE IS THE VIOLENCE?” So  all that kill all the infidel stuff is nonsense, because if it was true, then HOW WOULD THE CHRISTIANS AND JEWS LIVE GENERATION AFTER GENERATION FOR 1400 YEARS IN THE MIDDLE EAST? AND THEY STILL LIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST! THINK ABOUT IT! THINK ABOUT IT! THINK ABOUT!

Islam and Christianity have no common beliefs.

 

Islam and Christianity both belief that there’s a God. They both know Jesus, peace on him, but Islam dont believe that he’s the son of God. If he was the son of God, that means God was married and He had kids. Thats the literal translation of the son of God. They both believe in Adam, peace on him, and Eve and Noah, peace on him, and the flood. They both believe in Moses, peace on him, and the ten commandent. They both believe in the end of the world and Judgment Day. They both believe in Abraham, peace on him, and his son Issac and that he almost sacrificed his son because God told him to. Islam even had a day where we celebrate that day, which is the big Eid. So they have so many common beliefs.

 

Muslim people are forced to make the non muslims convert and they treat the non muslims bad if they don’t convert.

 

We are not forced to make non muslims convert. We are not telling them to convert and we don’t have guns to their heads if the don’t convert. Treatment of people who refuse to convert to islam is the same as all the other people. Muslim don’t treat people who wont convert like dogs and then the people who are converting or are already Muslim like angels, same with the people who divert away from islam. If they want to divert, it’s going to be their problem in the future, not ours. We treat all people alike. If  they dont want to convert, bravo! Its their choice, not ours.

 

So in conclusion, all these stereotypes are wrong and if one want to know the truth, one has to do his own research because not all what the media says is true. The media is giving wrong information to the people and it’s not fair that the media is doing that. However, it doesn’t take a rocker scientist to figure out that Islam preaches violence or know that Muslim women are not getting educated are false because there are a lot of Muslim women at my college. People need to start thinking for themselves and stop letting the media dicate to them what to think and how to react to it.

 

 

It’s not race!

so i have heard the word race being refered to muslim

i have heard the word race being refered to jews (Semitism)

i have heard the word race being refered to hispanic

but if you take the time to analyze it, you will find that the are not really races

so i thought i would try to enlighten people with this post on why i dont believe they are really are really races….

the word muslim refers to the word religion islam and it would be belonging to the religion of islam….

the word semitism refers to being jewish and its the same concept as being muslim…

if you analyze how to be hispanic, you will also find out that to be hispanic, you need to at least be spanish…

theres no different feature that they have… they dont have an extra nose or and extra ear…

or different skin color or different eyes… and a rounder face…

so my agrument is that they say that they are…

i say that its not…

why islam?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Clk5lNUdQ&NR=1

i think islam is the most misundrstood religion in the world
not just by non muslims… but by muslims as well

many of the information about islam is based of what they see on television and in the movies
and many muslims are born into this religion without anyone really explainin it to them…
and unfortunately, their actions and behavior reflects their lack of understanding…

and finally you have people who twist the verses of Qur’an in order to spread their hate

the end result: a lot of confused people and a lot of confusion on what islam really teaches…

prove to me that this book is perfect… just like the Creator…
otherwise if the book even has one error… it proves its been written or editted by man…

today if you watch tv long enough, you will believe its a religion of fanatics…
where actions are not based on reason or rationality…
rather, its the exact opposite!

islam is very comprehesive, very practical….
in fact, when it comes to discuss the extistence of the Creator,
islam teaches you to think and reflect
to obverse the world around you…
because when you start investigating you realize how complex things are….
and though our human experince, we realize that complex thing just don’t come out of nowhere….

even though you dont see the engineers and the builders of the buildings…
it doesnt mean that they dont exist…

you get an idea how intellignence of the the creator, just by checking out his creation
the amazing thing is that all these man made structures are simple when you compare it to a thing such as a living organism…

1400 years ago, it was impossible for anyone to have this accurate information…
especially when these things have been discovered in the past century…

and the Qur’an challenges you to write a book like it, if he is in doubt that this book is from the Creator,
to prove that this book can not be written by a human being….
so many have tried, all of them have failed…. and many of them ended up becoming Muslims…

keep in mind that the meaning of Qur’an translated from the is not the Qur’an
any translation is a mere attempt to translate it…

these days, you see people taking verses of the Qur’an and twisting them to try to fool the people
but in reality, they are only fooling themselves…

yes there are gonna be people who are like sheep and they wont think…

islam is also colorblind, so theres no race, color, culture that makes one superior over another…
not even muslims have a free ticket to paradise…
each muslim will be judged by their intentions and actions…